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Boy Scouts to admit girls

:clap: Some very good and humorous responses here but let me shed a little light as an Asst. Scoutmaster in my 9th year with one Eagle and another achieving Life in 5 days. The main drivers behind this are money and number of new scouts or lack thereof. We have seen Troop sizes diminish greatly over the last decade. We now compete with sports constantly, 2 working parent families, and a slowly dwindling interest in outdoor things among today’s youth. Plus by the time they get to high school Scouting isn’t considered to be that “cool”. Compounding this is the LDS leaving because of Scout policy regarding admitting Gay Scouts. Probably other reasons too. Bridging 3-5 Webelos into a Troop is considered a really good year.

Because numbers are down it means revenue is down. Add to that a lot of families with daughters are very interested in the Scout program and what it offers relative to Girl Scouts. It also simplifies their life if both kids are involved in the same activity the same evening. The decision is not popular with the Girl Scout organization as you can imagine as they are hurting for membership as well.

Compound this with the fact that getting parents to volunteer to be Scoutmasters, Asst. Scoutmaster or just help by volunteering time to the Troop is an absolute nightmare now. Adults just aren’t stepping up any more and it sets a bad precedent for their scouts. Scouts with involved parents do far better and those of us that are involved need a lot more help. We are burning out.

Our Troop will respect the policy but we haven’t gotten much guidance yet and we will be learning via trial and error. For the most part I don’t have a problem with it and it might help the young men to better respect women. I do strongly feel though that there needs to be some Boy only, and Girl only, opportunity and activities whether it be the summer camps or whatever.
 
Girls have been part of Scouts Australia since 1973.

The sky hasn't fallen in..

ps husband is a Queens Scout as are his three brothers, and his father was a Kings Scout. Various leadership roles over the decades.

You are right about the challenges in gaining membership.
 
LeftCoast said:
:clap: Some very good and humorous responses here but let me shed a little light as an Asst. Scoutmaster in my 9th year with one Eagle and another achieving Life in 5 days. The main drivers behind this are money and number of new scouts or lack thereof. We have seen Troop sizes diminish greatly over the last decade. We now compete with sports constantly, 2 working parent families, and a slowly dwindling interest in outdoor things among today’s youth. Plus by the time they get to high school Scouting isn’t considered to be that “cool”. Compounding this is the LDS leaving because of Scout policy regarding admitting Gay Scouts. Probably other reasons too. Bridging 3-5 Webelos into a Troop is considered a really good year.

Because numbers are down it means revenue is down. Add to that a lot of families with daughters are very interested in the Scout program and what it offers relative to Girl Scouts. It also simplifies their life if both kids are involved in the same activity the same evening. The decision is not popular with the Girl Scout organization as you can imagine as they are hurting for membership as well.

Compound this with the fact that getting parents to volunteer to be Scoutmasters, Asst. Scoutmaster or just help by volunteering time to the Troop is an absolute nightmare now. Adults just aren’t stepping up any more and it sets a bad precedent for their scouts. Scouts with involved parents do far better and those of us that are involved need a lot more help. We are burning out.

Our Troop will respect the policy but we haven’t gotten much guidance yet and we will be learning via trial and error. For the most part I don’t have a problem with it and it might help the young men to better respect women. I do strongly feel though that there needs to be some Boy only, and Girl only, opportunity and activities whether it be the summer camps or whatever.
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:agree: Parental participation is a big problem with troops. My older brother made Eagle, I made Life, a member of Order of The Arrow, and yes we all started as Cub Scouts. The troop dwindled down to the point of being three from my family, and two from another family that showed (maybe) up once a month. The troop stayed open just long enough for my brother to finish his Eagle, and then my dad closed it. The boys in the troop dropped out because, like you said, it was not cool, parental lack of participation (my Dad was their babysitter), and yes the other kids involvement in sports.

I too was a parental helper when my daughters were in Girl Scouts, but they got bored with it after three years, and stopped wanting to go.
 
Rogue Hawk said:
Well, certainly some will consider this as a sign of the Apocalypse. The Girl scouts are also upset by this. But I think expanding choices for girls is a good thing. From what I understand, each has a different curriculum. I don't know how much Girl Scouts have changed. When my sister was in it it was basically home economics which bored her to no end.


https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...the-boy-scouts-decide-to-accept-girls/542769/
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Many years ago, I joined the Cub Scouts, which was followed by the Webelos, the Boy Scouts, and finally, the Explorers. It was an all male fraternity of sorts which has done just fine, up until now. I've heard too, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has also now begun distancing themselves from the Boy Scouts for admitting girls. I'm sure that the founder of the Boy Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell never envisioned the organization he founded in 1908, going co-ed. Would the Boy Scouts, still retain their signature, organizational name, or would it be modified to something "more" suited to the 21st Century?
 
WilderThomas said:
Many years ago, I joined the Cub Scouts, which was followed by the Webelos, the Boy Scouts, and finally, the Explorers. It was an all male fraternity of sorts which has done just fine, up until now. I've heard too, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has also now begun distancing themselves from the Boy Scouts for admitting girls. I'm sure that the founder of the Boy Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell never envisioned the organization he founded in 1908, going co-ed. Would the Boy Scouts, still retain their signature, organizational name, or would it be modified to something "more" suited to the 21st Century?
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Changing the name to Scouts, BSA.
 
I guess that there's going to be a whole bunch of new Merit Badges available:
Dance
Dating etiquette
Responsible Sex practices
...and when THAT one fails:
Parenting!
 
Will there now be badges given for the 4 bases and will men now be allowed to join the wnba or are they still going to discrimate?
On a side note is everyone aware of the mormon church's heavy influence on the bsa?
 
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granpa in Cincy said:
Mormans announced they're breaking all bonds with BSA in 2019 and forming their own version of BSA.
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Interestingly LDS has always been its own offshoot anyway and does not mingle their Troops with non LDS folks. They do run a camp on Catalina island that is wonderful and they are some of the best kids I’ve met in Scouting when it came to working with other Scouts that went to that camp. You do not have to be LDS to go there.
 
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